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<br />Lyon was originally named Fort Wise. However. during <br />the Civil War it was considered unpatriotic for the United <br />States to have a fort named after a southern governor <br />(Henry Wise of Virginia). Nathaniel Lyon \vas the first <br />Union genera! to lose his!ite in the Civil War (at Wilson's <br />Creek-near current day Springfield, Missouri. in 1861). <br />Th:Js, in the renaming of this fort on the Arkansas River, <br />he was honored by having the edifice in southeastern <br />Colorado that still stands. and a canal vital to the local <br />economy named after him. <br /> <br />The Arkansas River originates 'lear Leadville, Colo- <br />rado. As it meanders in a sou:heasterly d:rection. its <br />waters are eventually joined w.th those of the mighty <br />Mississippi River. The adjoining lands are fertile due to <br />the passage of time and the depositing of top soil \;vhich ~ <br />.was later spread over the adjacent land by floods and <br />other high water activity. In many of the years when the <br />state had territorial status. that part of southeastern <br />Colorado encompassing the Arkansas Valley was basi- <br />cally Bent County, with the county seat at Las Animas. <br />Originally Bent County reached from west of Fowler to <br />the Kansas !ir]e until 1889 when Otero and Prowers <br />Counties were carved out of Bent County. Much of this <br />land was part of the early land grants made by the Span- <br />iards and early Mexicans (especialiy the Vigil and St. <br />Vrain Grants) to early settlers in what is now Colorado <br />in order to accelerate colonization. Land given away <br />under these land grants even exceeded the amount later <br />given away by the United States under t1e Homestead <br />Act. <br /> <br />Cattle, including longhorns brought in from Texas. <br />were an integral part of the economy. Still, the merits of <br /> <br />4 <br />